Last week started bad with my camera having an issue. Being a food blogger your camera is something that is so important to you and I seriously learnt the value of my camera. Next came an issue with blogger which said I have exceeded the quota of 1 GB memory. Suffering the loss of camera was painful and this only added to my worries. Next I decided to cook no matter what :P and was so enthu (enthusiastic) to do my 100'th post against all odds and did this chocolate beet cake and the day I chose to do it the sun suddenly said good bye and next 2 days it was completely dark and not perfect for photos and how can you save a cake that tasted good. I ended up clicking pics in the poor lighting.

And when I tried to upload I just found them so bad :( and later planned to cook up something special the next day Gulab Jamun :D and a bright sunlight to give me company. Went ahead and was nothing less to add to my worries the jamuns scattered in oil.... :( I have no clue what happened. Next to lift up my spirits made biscuits and that was another disaster so told myself that this just wasn't my day! And I was not ready for another one and called my husband, decided to go for dinner since it was thanksgiving day... And the next hour the wind started blowing and it started to pour and you know plan was cancelled :( and ended up cooking at home... The rains were so bad that we could not sleep and ended up praying and finally it all started to become calm... So what I learnt is that be thankful and all your storms may seem to calm down, be happy and move on... can that get any perfect for a Thanksgiving post???I am so happy and delighted to share my 100'th post with all my friends, family and readers. Blogging has given me a passion to cook more and a great bunch of friends who encourage me a lot. I am really blessed to have such lovely people around me and in a very short span. Thank you to each one of you who have encouraged, read, criticized made my day with your lovely and thoughtful words. This means so much to me, there could not be a better day to share my joy with you ♥ Happy Thanksgiving !!!

Chocolate Beetroot is an unusual combination but one that works great and results in a super moist cake. Using light olive oil instead of butter and this cake is for someone who wants to eat a healthy dessert keeping in mind the goodness of beetroot and dark chocolate.

Serves - 8

Cook & Prep time - 1 hr

Recipe Source - Have your cake and eat it too (book)

Ingredients

Cocoa powder - 50 gms

Plain flour - 175 gms

Caster Sugar - 200 gms

Beetroot - 250 gms (I used pre-cooked beets without any added vinegar, check notes to know how to cook beets on your own)

Eggs large - 3 (free range)

Baking powder - 1 1/2 tsp

Olive Oil - 200 ml (i used extra virgin)

Dark cooking chocolate - 100 gms

For icing

Beetroot juice - 3 tbsp

Icing Sugar - 170 gms

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Method

Cook the beetroot in a pressure cooker/ use pre cooked beets and using a food processor make it into a fine paste without lumps, strain a little of it to get juice (for icing) around 3 tbsp, set aside

Pre-heat oven to 180 C/ 350 F/ Gas mark 4. Grease 9 in cake pan with little oil/ butter and line the base with baking parchment. Sift cocoa, flour and baking powder into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar and mix well to combine

In a food processor add the beetroot paste, eggs and oil and make it into a fine paste/ until smooth

Now make a well in the dry ingredients and add the wet mix little by little to form a smooth batter without lumps.

Add the chopped dark chocolate to this and mix well. Pour the batter to the greased tin and bake for 40-45 mins until a skewer inserted in center comes out clean. Allow it to cool in the cake tin for 5 mins and then flip it onto a cooling rack

Once the cake is cooled down, prepare the icing by mixing the ingredients and pouring it on the cake, let it settle down and after 10 minutes pop in the the refrigerator to set for 10-15 mins

Cut into pieces and enjoy

Cooks Notes

- You can cook beets in a pressure cooker for 3 whistles and once cooled down puree it in a mixer, do not through away the water and use it for your curries/ making chappati dough

- Adding dark chocolate really adds additional flavor to this cake but you can use it in moderation

Nice cake. I have seen lot of chocolate cake and brownie recipes with beetroot but I have never tried one...Your cake surely makes me want to try them out. Congrats on your 100th milestone. Keep them coming :)

congrats priya.. and cake has really come well.. i dont cook any sweet items on wednesday since it gets spoiled on that particular day.. its really sad when something gets spoiled when we take lot of efforts :(

Nice to meet you and congrats on your 100th post!!! The kitchen disasters mostly happens to me when I am in the urge to post something really bad and I had gone thru the same dilemma of what to do with the unsatisfactory picture that was taken. Nice reading your post and the cake looks yum.

Thank you for visiting, I hope you enjoyed my recipes :-) In case you have tried any of the recipes featured here, do let me know in the comment section. For any other queries email me - cooklikepriya(at)gmail.com